Thanks.What's interesting is you can often follow along, correlating the events in these articles to the chronology of Bret's book.For instance, the article mentions Davey's back surgery, but from Bret, we know that it was during this time, also, that Diana was fooling around behind Davey's back while he was in the hospital recovering from surgery AND going through detox.

Bret ran into Austin backstage at a WWF show & saw him fraternizing with Diana - who'd recently dyed her hair dark - and he mentioned what a lousy thing that was to do with Davey in the shape he was in.

Wow...I never heard that one. Very interesting. Steve should have stayed with Debra. I could spend the next 25 years or so with her tits swinging like a pendulum in my face.

Davey Boy Smith is hoping to create his own ring legacy for a fallen friend, brother-in-law and former tag-team chum. The one-time British Bulldog said he was recently asked by Owen Hart to revive their tag-team liaison, one that captured four world championships with the World Wrestling Federation.

That dream is now gone, but Smith hopes to mobilize for the next-best thing -- a solo comeback in memory of Hart.

"He wanted me to go back, so I'll try my hardest to fulfil his wish," said Smith, standing on the mat in the Hart home's "dungeon" gymnasium, where Owen learned his craft.

Smith is still recovering from a serious injury suffered during a bungled trap door stunt in a WCW ring last September.

Smith, who has also been recovering from an infection in his spinal cord, was visited in hospital last week by his close confidante Hart.

"He was like a brother to me -- we stayed in the same rooms, we drove, flew and ate together," said Smith. "I was tagged-teamed with Owen longer than anyone within the federation."

The WWF leadership shouldn't take the blame for the death of his close friend, said the husky wrestler.

"They're running a business and we all do crazy things."

Performing risky feats without stunt doubles is a point of pride, said Smith.

"We're stunt men -- we take our own falls, we use harnesses and pulleys.

A rainy weekday morning at B.J.'s Gym, jogging distance east from City Hall and the St. Louis Hotel.

A Jaguar roars up. The driver smiles and gets out.

Davey Boy Smith, known throughout the world as The British Bulldog, is back where he belongs.

He works out, twice a day six days a week, and is now finished his new bodybuilding video. He gains lost weight and bangs the proteins and vitamins.

He feels no pain in a spine that's gone through hell.

We are witnessing the first step back from that day last September when Davey was slammed against a steel trap door in a World Championship Wrestling bout.

Davey, brother-in-law and one-time tag team partner of Owen Hart, is planning a return to wrestling, perhaps to Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation.

"I'm an addict to wrestling. It's almost like a drug. I've been down but I have always returned to the ring. It's the only thing I know -- working out and wrestling. That's all I've done since I was 10," says Davey.

"I love to make people laugh, I love to hear them cheer." Then he adds: "Owen and me would fool around in the ring. He was so comical with those funny faces."

"I lost my brother-in-law and lost one of my best friends. Martha and Bret have the right to do what they want with the lawsuit. But I don't point fingers.

"I am still on good terms with both the WCW and the WWF. There is no personal animosity. I have nothing against Vince McMahon. I never badmouth a promoter. It's not my style. I never burn bridges."

He's come a long way.

Short weeks ago, Davey lay in a hospital, three crushed discs and a terrible infection.

He had a body cast from waist to neck. Every time he sat up, the cast would choke him. Davey hated it.

Then the letter came by Federal Express. Davey's wife Diana threw it on Davey's bed. The WCW had canned him. He was through.

Davey had wrestled two decades.

"I am not a bitter man. But if you put me in the ring when there's a trap door, tell me. I'm not injured because of clumsiness but because they were at fault."

Looking back now, Davey recalls his decision last fall to try and keep wrestling though something was wrong with his back. He felt the terrible pain. He was shying away from falls and getting really out of shape.

There were the painkillers. Demerol. Morphine. He grew to depend on them.

By Boxing Day of '98, Davey had enough. He flew up to Grande Prairie to check in to rehab and get clean. A 28-day program. Davey stayed seven weeks.

Without the drugs, Davey felt the back pain again. He got an X-ray. The docs couldn't find anything.

His last week in Grande Prairie, Davey collapsed and flew back to Calgary. He went to Foothills and Rockyview, once going by ambulance. Some thought Davey just wanted a fix.

The pain in his back got worse. Davey couldn't sleep. Sometimes he'd walk around all night at home, crying.

A chiropractor suggested a bone scan. The next thing Davey knew, he was in the hospital for almost two months with three crushed discs and a vicious staph infection. Davey even lost half an inch in height.

But Davey never, ever lost sight of the ring. He just kept saying: "I don't have a date when I'm back or who I'm going to work for, but I will be back one day."

After all, Davey had wrestled forever.

Growing up in England between Manchester and Liverpool, in the town of Golborne. Wrestling because his dad didn't want him smashing windows.

There was Ted Betley, his trainer from the age of 12, who looked, talked and acted like the trainer in Rocky.

There were the times Davey delivered fruit and jumped over the fences at every delivery just to get in shape.

There was Davey's first pro match at 15 years old. He ran 8 km to pick up the contract. "I would have wrestled for free."

At almost 18, Stu Hart brought him to Calgary. The wrestlers were so big. Davey thought he was in The Land of The Giants.

In his first match, Davey fought his cousin, The Dynamite Kid.

And, of course, there was Davey's fame as The British Bulldog and beating Bret Hart before 83,000 at London's famed Wembley Stadium. Lennox Lewis carried Davey's Union Jack into the ring.

Yes, he is determined to be back. The WWF, for its part, tells me it would welcome a call from Davey when he's ready.

"After my injury, a lot of the scandal sheets said I was all washed up. That really ticked me off. I want to show them all.

"I'm not washed up. I'm not finished.

"I'm not a quitter. It may be in a year from now or 20 years. But I'll never quit. I never have. I never will."

Calgary's wrestling patriarch said he wouldn't want to hold Davey Boy Smith back from entering the ring again -- even after the tragic death of Owen Hart.

"It'd be like telling a hockey player like Wayne Gretzky to find another vocation. 'All I can do is play hockey,' " said Stu Hart.

Davey Boy Smith told the Sun last weekend he was working out and hopeful for a return to the wrestling ring after hurting his back last year.

That's even after the May 23 death of Owen Hart -- Smith's brother-in-law and Hart's son -- who fell while attempting a dramatic entrance to the ring in a Missouri arena.

Hart said he wasn't surprised to learn that Smith wants to return to wrestling.

"I don't know what the hell (Smith) could do if he doesn't go back," said Hart. "There's nothing that could compete with that."

Hart said it was likely the best shot Smith had at making a good living.

"When Davey is is good shape he's a pretty good attraction."

And Hart said he himself has made wrestling his whole life.

"Wrestling helped me a whole lot. It gave me a lot of confidence in myself. It's been a way of life for me since 1949," Hart said.

But the whole family is still reeling from Owen's sudden death at Kansas City's Kemper Arena during a World Wrestling Foundation match.

His widow, Martha, said she will keep quiet her thoughts, after she and Owen's parents filed a wrongful death suit last month.

Among the 13 defendants are the WWF and its chairman Vince McMahon.

"Owen has died and there is nothing I can do to bring him back," she said during a June 15 press conference. "But one hope above all is that his death will not be in vain. I believe those responsible should be held accountable under the law."

And Hart said Owen's death has been felt worldwide.

"I must have a couple black garbage bags filled with cards from people all over the world," he said of the condolences.

Angry at the WWF's rival, World Championship Wrestling, which fired him months ago as he lay in hospital.

Angry at brother-in-law Bret Hart, who dragged Davey through the dirt when Davey vowed to wrestle again.

"I'm really psyched. My strength is ungodly. I feel I could run through a wall," says Davey, in his first interview with the press since his signing a few weeks ago.

"I baffled the doctors. There were the doubters who said I was all washed up.

"There were those who said the Bulldog was a lazy, fat slob.

"There were some people in my own family who were hoping I wouldn't come back.

"But I said: I'll show you all. And I'll show Bret. When I really get mad, I get furious. Make me motivated and I'll go for it. I'm not afraid of anyone. If Bret's got a problem with me, he knows where I live."

When this column informed the public of Davey's comeback in July, Bret used his Sun column to slam Davey.

"Saw a strange sight yesterday. Dogs rolling in manure and loving every minute of it.

"For some reason, it made me think of how the British Bulldog will do anything to work for the WWF," wrote Bret.

"There were these four little pigs in the pig races. The guy there told me they'd sell out their mothers and brothers and sisters to the slaughterhouse, just for those mini donuts. Kind of reminds me of ... er ... I won't go there this week," Bret also wisecracked.

Davey can't understand Bret. Davey does not think his comeback is in any way defiling the memory of Owen Hart, who died in a WWF match earlier this year.

"Why does Bret attack me? What have I done to him except stick by him? I can't figure out why. He even called my wife on the phone and said: If I see you on the street, I'll run you over, you..."

The rest cannot be printed in a family newspaper.

"I'm really angry at Bret. I went with him to the WCW. I paid a $100,000 fine to leave the WWF. I was backing Bret up. I felt responsible for what happened to Bret, when he lost his belt.

"After all that, he nails me. When I was let go, who the hell backed me up?"

"Why should I leave what I love for one person? Does Bret expect me to sit at home and do nothing the rest of my life? Does he want me to lose everything just to satisfy him? I refuse to do that.

"What happened to Owen is tragic but there is nothing I can do about it. Vince did not push Owen."

Six days a week down at B.J.'s Gym, Davey shakes aside all the naysayers and keeps his eye on the prize.

He diets like crazy and sweats like crazy to get down to his fighting weight of 245 lbs.

There is something in the heart and guts of this former delivery boy from the English town of Golborne, near Manchester.

Bret was pissed at Davey for divorcing his sister. Naturally Bret would side with his blood. Thats why this rule is so under-rated, keep your business and family completely seperated. Its like having two dicks and no bitch.

Bret was pissed at Davey for divorcing his sister. Naturally Bret would side with his blood. Thats why this rule is so under-rated, keep your business and family completely seperated. Its like having two dicks and no bitch.

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who's been in as many wars as The British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith. Wrestling since he was 15, Smith has had to work his way up everywhere he's gone for his entire 22-year run in the business. You can probably count on your fingers and toes how many grapplers among the thousands that have lasted as long.

It's a quite afternoon, three days before Survivor Series 1999 that Smith called the offices of CANOE for a free-for-all -- about his past, present, and the state of wrestling in general today.

One thing that seems ironic is that Smith instantly captured championship gold (hardcore title) upon his return to the WWF, after his self-imposed two-year hiatus from the company, and then cashed it in for the European belt. It's ironic because Smith was the first bearer of the title of European Champion, and now holds it once more, but he says it won't hold him back from his loftier goals.

"I'm glad to be the European Champion," said the genuinely friendly Smith. "Whatever comes next, comes next. I'm not trying to rush anything; I'm just trying to get myself back into ring shape basically. It took me longer than I thought to get back into ring shape because I took that year off. With not wrestling for a year it took me a while to get my wind back. It's just the past couple of weeks that it's just starting to come back. I can really feel it because I've dropped 15 to 20 pounds since I've back, just lightening up so I can move better."

Not everything is planned 100% in advance. Smith won't know if he'll get a full world championship push for a while, but says it's not out of the question, and that there's plenty of time because he's currently inked a five-year contract. Still after promoting his desire to win the "big strap" after his return, does he think it will happen sooner rather than later?

"I would say so," Smith said. "I didn't want anyone to rush me in right away. I explained to Vince (McMahon, owner of the WWF), 'I've not wrestled for a year, and I should take it easy before I start going and make sure everything's okay with my back.' What happened, The Undertaker got injured, he tore his groin, and basically my first night back was the six-man tag, with me, The Rock and Kane, and it was like 'Whoa!' I went against The Big Show, and I've never been in the ring with The Big Show. He's one big, strong dude. That was my first match back, and it was a big shock to me."

Recently Smith has been teamed up with the Mean Street Posse, something puzzling many of the squared circle observers. Bulldog seemed to be on the right path going solo, so many were surprised at his new mates. Smith explained the affiliation.

"I think it's just to bring me in slowly," said Smith. "They'll help me in the ring, and I can help them, as far as working. It's basically you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back. They're good guys too, They're funny guys, and it's fun to be in their with them."

What was just as bizarre was the booking of Survivor Series, which pitted Bulldog and his Posse against other heels. Smith is at a loss to explain that one.

"It was a big shock to me to," he admitted. "I thought I wasn't going to be working The Survivor Series. It was going to be one night off, out of a million working. No one told me until the last minute. Basically at Smackdown! I found out who the teams were. Basically we're all heels. You've got Gangrel, myself, Val Venis, Mark Henry, Steve Blackman, Joey Abs, Rodney and Pete Gas."

It is also an interesting time in the locker room for the Bulldog at the moment. He is the only superstar from the WWF's heyday in the 1980's that's still in the federations' stable. Smith says he's looked upon with respect, instead of being perceived as taking away the spotlight from the younger talent.

"There is quite a bit of locker room respect," Smith revealed. "People think I just came in for my last run. I was in the ring, at Smackdown! in Baltimore. A few hours before the match started I was stretching in the ring and felt like messing around. I started doing handsprings and nip-ups, and I tried some moonsaults from the top rope, trying to land on my feet, and I was doing it, you know. I went back to the dressing room and all the guys are staring at me and I'm like ‘What's wrong?' 'We didn't know you could still do that,' I said 'Oh yeah.' 'Well why aren't you doing it in the ring?' I said 'Well, I really don't need to do it in the ring right now.' It's always good to have a time and a place to do that. Maybe when I become a babyface, but right now there's really no reason to do it."

Smith is also impressed with his colleagues. Before, he would stay backstage and relax before he was to perform, but now, he says, the talent in the WWF is so exciting that he catches many matches before going out, especially those of The Hardy Boys.

"Oh Jesus, they're crazy. I've never seen anybody like that. They really entertain me. Some of the stuff they do is just ungodly."

Speaking of "ungodly," many unkind words have come from Smith's brother-in-law, Bret Hart, about the Bulldog's return to the WWF. It seems that the memory of Hart's screw-job by the WWF still lingers with him, but Smith says he just wants the past to be the past.

"I just wish he let me live my life, you know. I've never said anything bad about him," said Smith about the Hitman. "I left the WWF because of him, to stand behind him. That is the truth. He said last week that I didn't leave to stand behind him, he said I left because I was disgusted with Vince. If I was disgusted with Vince I would have never come back. WCW, when they let me go, said I could come back when I got better. I didn't want to be there anyway, I was very unhappy there. They've got so many guys there, and to me, it's the same guys every week, like (Hulk) Hogan, taking up all the TV time. I just thought 'This is not the place for me.' I should never have left the WWF. It was a big mistake on my part."

On the horizon for Smith is the release of The British Bulldog's Basic BodyBuilding Workout video. Being that wrestlers, on the average, are over 230 pounds, and many quite muscular, he thought it logical that the public would be interested in a product geared toward "pumping up" like their favourite wrestlers. The video was actually produced last year, but has had some setbacks, including Smith's back injury, which kept him out of the ring for a year, and kept him out of the public eye.

"I think it's just a matter of time before it comes out. I was trying to get it out there, and it was really hard. I couldn't get up and at it to get things rolling. Now I'm on the road, so it might be easier to get out there. Plus I wanted to get my face back on TV first, so people would respond. I don't know a wrestler who's ever done a workout video, so I think it'll really do well. I would say if it doesn't come out by Christmas, maybe by February. That's what I'm gunning for."

It appears that Davey Boy isn't the only one gunning for greater things in the Smith household. Son Harry, all of 14-years old, has recently got involved in an angle in Stampede Wrestling in Alberta. A Stampede source said Harry is a good worker, but he's really small, "125 pounds soaking wet," was the term used. The source also said Harry has a future in the business, and could even be used in some of the TV angles, but thinks he's a little young for championship gold yet. Bulldog, however, couldn't be prouder.

"He's really enjoying it," said an elated Smith. "I've been giving him some advice about being on the microphone, and things like that. He's so much on TV right now I told him not to swear on the microphone, not to cuss on the microphone at all, because he's a young kid and people will think he's a spoiled little brat. He's not. He's worked hard for what he's got. He's wrestling in the Pavilion for Bruce and Ross Hart at Stampede. I might take a pop down there and take a look at it. He's kind of like the Hardy Boys, doing all sorts of crazy stuff."

His biggest fight is in no ring. It is in a simple room in a drug treatment centre in far-off Atlanta.

The truth is very simple too.

"I'm here to get better," says Davey Boy Smith, the man the world calls The British Bulldog. The man the treatment centre calls a morphine addict.

Davey Boy Smith's story is an inspiring tale worthy of a Hollywood screenwriter. Here's the working-class, Manchester-area delivery boy who worked his way to become an international wrestling star.

Yes, Davey Boy is a character right out of Rocky.

He had his back smashed against a trap door in the ring less than two years ago, three discs dissolved in a sea of infection. He was fired as he lay in a Calgary hospital bed. He lived to see the death of his sister, his mom and his beloved tag-team partner Owen Hart.

Many wrote him off. But Davey Boy would not throw in the towel. Never.

"I'm not washed up, I'm not finished," Davey Boy told the world last year, as he signed a deal with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation.

"My strength is ungodly. I feel I could run through a wall. I'm an addict to wrestling."

But sadly, Davey Boy is an addict to much more, an inhabitant of a hideous hell by prescription.

Morphine. Painkillers. Muscle relaxants. Sleeping pills.

Davey did it all. He took the pills. He shot up. He needed a fix every couple hours to make the back pain from the wrestling ring go away. He would even wake up through the night to do the stuff.

Sometimes he would take the drugs at home, sometimes in his garage, sometimes Davey would go out.

Before long, Davey Boy needed a fix because he needed a fix. Davey didn't start off planning to be an addict, he just wanted to wrestle. That's what he knew how to do.

One night stands out in the memory of Davey's wife, Diana. Davey was in bed, out cold. He couldn't move and his bulky immobile body needed to be lifted up.

Davey had swallowed his tongue.

In recent weeks, Diana and some of Davey's friends tried to get Davey help. He refused. Then, last week, Davey was in Nashville. Four hours before ring time, Davey talked with Vince McMahon.

"I told Vince: I'm really not feeling too good. I don't want to kill myself in the ring. I need help. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where to go."

McMahon flew Davey to Atlanta that night and the wrestler checked in at the treatment centre.

McMahon will pay Davey's salary for the three months Davey is in the centre. McMahon will also pay the tab for the treatment, expected to be about $75,000 U.S.

"There's a job waiting for me," says Davey, who insists he'll be back in the ring sometime this summer.

So far, Davey has finished up the initial detox. Now he has classes all day. "I have to learn to live without drugs. I feel pretty good," he says.

"And a little bit tired.

"I'll start working out next week. Right now, I'm giving my body a rest. I came back before. I came back from a broken spine. I'll do everything I can. I don't want to let my family down or myself down or my fans down."

Yes, Davey's wife Diana plans to visit Davey when there's an open house and he's allowed visitors. She's convinced this is not her husband's last hurrah.

Davey says he's determined. He'll beat back the demons and kick the habit. He says he'll find the way.

It is then a voice in the background calls out to Davey, a voice in a place far from home and even further from the glitz and glamour of professional wrestling.

"My roommate says I've got a meeting in 10 minutes," says Davey Boy Smith, the man the world calls The British Bulldog. "I've got to go. I have to clean myself up."

And Davey says good-bye, ready to take on the biggest opponent of his life.

I just watched the Hart and Soul DVD. Stu Hart sold Stampede to Vince but said he must take Bulldogs as well as Hart and Neidhart hence their push and ongoing fued. Aside from Dynamite, the other 3 were all brother in laws....

Calgary's Davey Boy Smith, the one-time fruit and vegetable delivery boy from England who has made a name throughout the world as wrestling's British Bulldog, has seen better days than these.

Family sources confirm Davey Boy is now in hospital in this city. Again. This time, Davey is being treated for an infected shoulder after surgery was done to save his arm. Davey was only out of hospital a few days after a bout of pneumonia.

The sources also confirm Davey has much bigger and life-threatening problems to tackle.

Despite trips to rehab, Davey is still hooked on the deadly painkillers he's abused for years and he is now mired in marital woes.To make matters worse, computer screens across the globe recently told mat fans that Davey is trying to kill himself, to end it once and for all.

It was quite the story a year ago this very month.

Davey working out, twice a day, vowing he'd come back from a back injury caused by a slam against a trap door in a wrestling ring, a mishap that would cripple weaker men.

Vowing he'd come back from spinal discs dissolving in infection. Vowing he'd come back even though he was fired by World Championship Wrestling as he lay in pain at Rockyview Hospital.

Vowing he'd come back even when doctors said he was crazy and the maggots who feed on bad news said Davey was washed up and done.

Yes, a year ago, anyone with any sense couldn't help rooting for Davey, the working-class lad who never copped an attitude, never felt full of himself or his fame.

"I'm an addict to wrestling. It's almost like a drug," are words Davey used at the time. But sadly, wrestling is not Davey's only drug.

He endured the pain in his back.

He lived with the pain in his heart. His sister died at 27, his mom died, his tag-team partner and brother-in-law Owen Hart died.

He tried to medicate himself against the pain, a recipe for disaster. He went to rehab for the drugs.

And he came back to the ring.

Last August, 11 months ago, Davey signed a big deal with Vince McMahon's World

After all, Davey's tag-team partner and brother-in-law, Owen, was killed in a WWF match.

"I'm not afraid. I'm not a quitter," are words Davey used at the time. Davey didn't quit.

But life is not always a scene out of Rocky.

This spring, Davey called from a hallway phone in a rehab clinic outside Atlanta, still an admitted addict to morphine, painkillers with names too tough to spell, muscle relaxants and sleeping pills.

Davey swallows them, he shoots them, he wakes up in the night to get a fix.

"Things were really getting on top of me. I didn't want to die," he said at the time.

He knew he had to clean up, to get straight, to defeat his biggest opponent.

But he checked out days later. "Davey didn't need a get out of rehab card," says a family member.

Now, Davey is still not off the painkillers. He is still an addict and still must face his family problems.

But the story can still end for Davey with his hand raised. He has his supporters, his friends and family who worry about him, who encourage him, who tell him they want him to live long and triumph, no matter the odds.

And Davey can still triumph, if he has the will. Just like a scene out of Rocky.

I just watched the Hart and Soul DVD. Stu Hart sold Stampede to Vince but said he must take Bulldogs as well as Hart and Neidhart hence their push and ongoing fued. Aside from Dynamite, the other 3 were all brother in laws....

Correct.Although, Dynamite & Bret were also brothers-in-law.Tom married Michelle, while Bret married Julie.